On Fate and Falling
by TuRtLe88
Summary: Fate has a way of making the things that are needed fall right into place. Sometimes, this happens literally. What happens when Ellie finds herself falling into the lives of the Winchesters?
1. Alps in Apple Valley

**Author's Note: This is the first fic I've written in quite a while, but inspiration (and a simple desire to write) just sort of hit me. This is also the first attempt at a chaptered fic that I've put up in ages. After finishing my last one, I decided I wanted to have a full fic written before ever posting, but since that never happened, I'm just going to put these out as they're finished. Be warned that it **_**will**_** take a while for new chapters. I'm trying to write a proper "episode" for each chapter, so one case per chapter. Which means they're long. Really long. This is over twice as long as my chapters usually get. This takes place during season 3 of Supernatural. I don't know exactly where (it's been about a year since I watched the show, and I did Netflix marathons of it, so it's all kind of a blur). Also, this chapter takes place in Apple Valley, Minnesota (for alliteration's sake). It's actually not too terribly far from where I'm from, but if there are any inconsistencies with the actual city and my depiction of it, I apologize (I tried to be as vague as possible). I think that's it for my ramblings. On to the disclaimer (and the story)!**

_Disclaimer: None of this is mine. Well, okay, I created some of the characters (Ellie, Katie, etc.) but I don't own Supernatural. I'm just writing this for funsies!_

Fate has a funny way of making things happen in the most unexpected of ways. Not that any of the parties involved in this particular tale would ever admit to believing in fate, but the meeting, well, it was too good to be coincidence.

It all started with a dream. Ellie Martin's heart was pounding as she ran through a dark forest. She didn't know _what_ was chasing her, but she knew that there was something there. Something big and terrifying, and it probably had very large teeth and very sharp claws. She was stumbling against tree roots and various stones, anything that was littered on the forest floor. But she had to keep picking herself up, because if she didn't, she knew she'd be caught.

At a certain point, panting as she continued to run, she registered that she was in the midst of a nightmare. But this didn't feel like a normal nightmare. It was more vivid, more terrifying, and hard as she tried, she couldn't wake herself up.

She was going to run out of stamina soon. She had to find a place to stop and hide, or wake herself up. But she couldn't. That was the problem. Maybe she could find some sort of weapon, and make a stand at the monster chasing her. She kept an eye on her surrounds as she continued her sprint away from her impending doom, but all the stones were too small and round to do much of anything, and all of the branches she could reach were too springy or too small to do anything much than mildly annoy the beast, she was sure.

She was tired though. She knew she wouldn't last much longer, her breath coming in painful gasps. So she snapped the nearest twig off of its tree, and spun around, brandishing it as if it was a sword, and not a puny stick. She had a sense of something lunging at her as she held the stick in front of herself defensively, as if it could stop the giant monster in front of her.

And then she woke. She was drenched in sweat, and breathing heavily, as if she _had_ just run for her life through a forest. Her room was brighter, though, than the dream had been, as dawn was breaking across the horizon, and she knew that she wasn't going to be falling back asleep.

She lay in bed for a few more minutes, coming to terms with her current consciousness, and trying to build up the willpower it would take to remove herself from her bed and make her way into the kitchen to start some coffee. The coming day would be a lot easier with the caffeine flooding her system.

* * *

Across town, a pair of brothers sat awake in their motel room. They just couldn't wrap their minds around what was happening in this town. Seemingly healthy young women were going to bed, and not waking up, the cause of death being cardiac arrest: heart attacks. If they didn't know any better, these women were being scared to death.

The problem with this theory, of course, was that there was nothing they knew of that could do such a thing. There was no monster in their repertoire that could possibly be killing these young women. The Winchesters knew, as any good Hunter does, that the boogeyman doesn't exist. There's just far scarier things that go bump in the night.

"I can't read anymore," Sam announced, drawing a hand across his face. "I'm not even sure that these are words anymore," he gestured down to the ancient tome and its tiny text. His brother just stared at him, blinking slowly.

"We're going to need caffeine if we're going to question the families of the vics again today," Dean replied. He'd given up the research hours ago, and had just woken from his doze ten minutes previous to the sound of someone peeling out of the motel parking lot.

Sam nodded, in complete agreement with his brother. The two were used to subsisting on little sleep and lots of coffee when they were working, which was pretty much always, so it was no stretch for this case to be different.

After a trip to the local coffee shop, the boys headed to the house of the second victim. They were fairly certain they'd gotten all they could get from the family and friends of the first the day before, and so they decided it would be best to question the second victim's family.

Dean let Sam do most of the talking. He knew what they'd hear. The families didn't know what caused the problem, and they sure as hell didn't know anything about monsters, so they would be all but useless. The boys had read the police reports. They knew most of the facts.

What they didn't know was what the connection was between the victims. Aside from the fact that they were young, both in their early twenties, and female, there was nothing else that really seemed to connect them. And Dean was doing his damnedest to figure out the connection, because he knew that would mean a break in the case. And a break in the case meant that there wouldn't be another body.

After their interviews with the family, the brothers headed to the diner in town to ruminate over their unsurprising lack of leads. Sam ordered something healthy, and Dean ordered a burger. "Should we call Bobby?" Sam asked his brother. "If anyone would have a clue, it would be him."

"Not yet," Dean replied. "It was a two weeks between the first victim and the second victim, right. If that pattern holds, we've got more than a week for the third. And monsters love patterns." Sam nodded thoughtfully, agreeing with his brother. "We've got plenty of time to figure this out on our own."

"Yeah, if we can figure out who the next target is," Sam muttered. Dean restrained a growl. He knew his brother meant well, but still, they should be able to solve a case without Bobby's input.

* * *

Ellie got let out of work early, which was never a good thing. As one of the personal assistants to an executive at a large publishing company in the city, you would expect there was a lot to do. And there was. Just enough to warrant two personal assistants. But not enough for both of them to be busy all the time. And as Ellie was the newer, less favored assistant, well, she was the one who always seemed to get sent home early.

It was a little after lunch time, although Ellie hadn't gotten a break at all that morning. Which meant that, as she returned home after her commute, she headed to her favorite diner in town to grab a bite to eat for lunch. The diner always felt homey to Ellie. They had traditional diner fare done right, and the best pie around. There was no beating it.

"Hey sweetie," the owner and main server greeted as she entered. Ellie was a valued customer, and was well known at the restaurant. "The usual table?" Ellie nodded in appreciation. The caffeine had pretty much worn off and she was tired. After a couple nights of terrible nightmares and not enough sleep, she was exhausted.

The owner led her back to Ellie's favorite spot, a booth in the corner that Ellie had been using since she was a child. But for whatever reason, due to a lack of sleep, leading to a lack of care, Ellie found herself tripping and falling, and suddenly she was sat in a man's lap.

"Ohmygosh, I'm so sorry!" Ellie blurted out almost immediately. A blush rose to her pale cheeks as she tried to get her bearings so that she could stand again.

"You know, when I talk about girls falling over themselves for me, I didn't know I meant it literally," he joked, mostly to his companion, although it was clearly meant for Ellie as well.

Ellie couldn't help but notice, as she righted herself, that he was good-looking (and he obviously knew it). He had his hair cropped short, but still styled slightly, a manly face with piercing green eyes, and he was quite muscular (something she'd learned as she used one of his arms for leverage). Not only that, but his voice was deep and gravelly. Ellie felt herself being attracted to him almost instantaneously.

His companion, as well, was clearly good-looking, with longer hair and a sharper nose. His eyes were a dark brown, his hair darker too, and while lankier, he was still clearly muscular. He seemed much more expressive than the other, and a bit younger. But Ellie just didn't seem to feel the same pull from him that she did from the other.

"I'm really sorry," she said again, looking to the ground and raising a hand to her face. She started to head to over to her booth, where the owner, Dawn, was watching with amusement in her eyes.

"It's no big deal," the guy replied, watching her closely. "Accidents happen." She nodded apologetically, moving slowly toward her booth.

"Hey, are you alone?" the other asked. "You could eat with us if you wanted."

"Oh, um," Ellie stammered. "I mean, I wouldn't want to intrude and you've already ordered and-"

"It's fine. Come sit here," the first interrupted, waving her over. He scooted further into the booth. "You don't even need to sit on my lap this time."

"Go for it, Sweetie," Dawn whispered in her ear. And with the older one coaxing her and Dawn's approval, Ellie slid into the booth shyly. "Now, what'll ya have?"

"A Pepsi," Ellie started, knowing the diner used her favorite of the two main cola brands, "and a house burger with onion rings."

"So you're a regular here?" the younger one asked, far too much curiosity showing on his face. Ellie could tell right away that he was the kind of guy you ended up spilling your guts to because he just seemed so trustworthy and emotional.

"Yeah," Ellie replied simply. "They've got great comfort food and the best pie in town."

"Seriously?" the one next to her perked up. "The best pie in town? How good is this pie?"

"Heavenly," Ellie replied, smiling shyly at him.

"Great," the other one muttered. "We'll be here forever."

"You're a pie lover?" Ellie asked the older one.

"There's no better food," the man replied.

"I'm Ellie, by the way," she introduced herself. It was getting a little ridiculous, referring to them, even mentally, as she had been.

"Dean," the older one replied.

"Sam," said the other.

"So what are you doing in a small town like this?" she was suddenly curious. It wasn't like there was a huge draw to her little Minnesota town. Sure, there were some decent restaurants, but you could find those just about anywhere. There was no real need to stop there over going to the city.

"Well, we're actually federal agents," Sam informed her. "We're looking into the mysterious deaths that have been happening here."

"Do you know anything about Sandy Biggs or Leslie White?" Dean asked her, suddenly turning on the professional investigator air.

"Hmm? Not really," Ellie admitted. "Although, I think they both lived fairly close to me," she mused, as it had just occurred to her.

"How close?" Sam asked, surprisingly curious.

"Well the first one, Sandy, lived in the townhouses across from my apartment building, and I think Leslie's family lives on the edge of the housing development right next to us," Ellie stated, trying to remember the facts.

The two seemed to sink into a thoughtful state just then, which suited Ellie just fine. She pulled her phone out of her bag to check for messages from her co-worker or boss. There weren't any, which was pretty typical. They had a tendency to ignore her if at all possible, as neither really liked her.

Dawn brought their food out fairly quickly, and soon they were eating away. Ellie dug into her burger with gusto, and her newfound company did likewise. Dean had ordered the same that her mother always used to order—a bacon double cheeseburger with fries—so without thinking about it, Ellie nabbed a fry from his plate as she used to do with her mother. He didn't seem to take too much offense to this, and grabbed an onion ring from hers in retaliation. Sam watched all of this in amusement.

"So, why did you trip so spectacularly anyway?" Dean asked a bit later with a mouthful of pie.

"Oh, um," Ellie felt a blush creeping up. "I haven't been sleeping too well lately, and so the exhaustion sort of enhanced my clumsiness."

"Nightmares?" Sam perked up from his slice of chocolate cake.

"Yeah," Ellie replied. "For the past few nights, I've been having really terrible nightmares," she replied. Sam and Dean shared a look.

And then Dean suddenly put his charming smile on, and looked at Ellie. "So, I'm about to ask for your number. But don't worry. It's actually for the case. You fit the profile of the previous victims, so I'd like to make sure you're safe."

Something clicked in Ellie's head that told her these were not real federal agents. But also, she couldn't help but trust them. Something in what she had just said had suddenly made him offer her protection. Which probably meant she really was a target. Suddenly, tripping and falling into Dean's lap didn't feel like an accident. It felt like this was all meant to happen.

"Only if you give me yours," she replied, pulling her phone out again. "In case of trouble."

"Of course."

* * *

"You don't think?" Sam asked, not finishing the question, but looking at his brother expectantly.

"Everyone close to the other two insisted they were having nightmares leading up to the deaths. So if this girl continues having nightmares, then she's the most obvious choice for the next target." Dean fixed his brother with a hard stare. "And it's our job to protect her."

"You're sure this isn't just you trying to score a date with her?" Sam mocked his elder brother.

"Dude, she's not even my type," Dean insisted almost defensively. "She's got that cute and innocent look, which we both know is exactly what I _don't_ go for." Sam mentally scoffed at this. He was pretty sure his brother's _only_ type was female. Anything more picky was just Dean making things up for a particular situation or argument.

"Right. Well, at least it's a lead. Even if we still don't know _what_ is killing these girls," Sam stated before picking up a book on mythology to do some research.

* * *

Ellie slipped the Bluray disc into her Playstation (which also functioned as her DVD player because she was poor but enjoyed quality video). She had gotten all of her junk food prepared and surrounding her favorite and most comfortable chair. She was so tired and in a terrible mood thanks to the constant nightmares that she had decided what she really needed was a movie night.

She had just gotten settled in, a blanket on her lap, her computer at the ready, and then her phone rang. She glanced at who it was (as no one ever called her), and noticed it was Dean, the federal agent, from earlier that day. "Hello?" she answered cautiously. What could he really want.

"Ellie? This is Dean," he said in the gruff voice. It made her feel things that she didn't want to admit. She was not the type of girl who usually went crazy over a boy, so the fact that he was affecting her like this was driving her all kinds of crazy. It made her angry with herself, for turning into the kind of girl who would fall over herself for some guy.

"Hi. Um, what exactly did you need? Did you learn some more things about the case?" She asked. She couldn't think for the life of her why else he would be calling.

"Actually, we were hoping we could have a look around your place, and see if there is anything that could connect you to the other two victims." He sounded a bit unsure of himself, like inviting himself into girls' houses was something he didn't normally do. And it probably wasn't, Ellie mused to herself. He probably easily got invited into the homes of women because he was so charming and good-looking. Admittedly, he was also inviting his partner, so it wasn't exactly the most romantic of scenarios.

"If you're not too busy, that is," he added, his usual charm back in place.

"Oh, um, I was actually just about to watch the Avengers," Ellie admitted. She had a problem with over-sharing when she was nervous. "But I guess you can. I mean, it's not like it's all that important." Except that she really needed the combined sass of Loki and Tony Stark right then. Not to mention that staring at Captain America's perfect body was never a bad thing.

"Is that that superhero movie?" Dean asked, as if he genuinely didn't know. And then Ellie realized that he probably didn't. He probably wasn't a geek like she was. "Are there a lot of explosions?"

"There are some," she admitted. "Lots of fighting though. And sarcasm. They have sarcasm and clever jokes in buckets," she explained.

"Sweet. We're in." She could hear Dean's smile over the phone. She then gave him her address, and hung up the phone. As she did, she noticed a text from her co-worker, the other personal assistant.

"Important clients tomorrow. Try not to look like death warmed over," it read. She sighed, falling deeper into her chair and reaching for a dinosaur-shaped chicken nugget (her dinner of choice). Easy for him to say. He could sleep through the night.

"This calls for Nutella," she muttered to herself.

The boys showed up not much later, and she ushered them into her apartment. "Bad break-up?" Dean asked, staring at the mess that was her living room. Sam stayed quiet, but Ellie could guess he was assuming she was on the rag.

"If only," she replied. "No, my co-worker sent me a lovely message telling me that I shouldn't look like 'death warmed over' tomorrow. And I was already in a fantastic mood because, you know, lack of sleep. Add into that the fact that I'm likely the next target for a vicious and mysterious murder, as I just learned today. So, I'm sure you can understand why I just wanted to have a lazy movie night." Ellie was getting herself all worked up at this point.

"Been there," Dean said, launching himself onto her couch. "So, movie?" Sam moved to sit next to his partner.

"Right," she replied, grabbing the controller and sitting in her chair.

* * *

"Do we move her?" Dean asked his brother. "Or wake her up? Or what?"

"We should probably just leave her," Sam replied. It would be no problem for either man to move the girl. She wasn't all that big, and they were both easily strong enough. But it was clear that she hadn't had a good night's sleep since the last girl had died, and neither wanted to take that from her.

"Well, now we can search. Look for clues," Dean said.

"Quietly," Sam added as his brother's booted feet it the floor with a large thunk.

"Right. Quietly."

Sam went to the kitchen to investigate, so Dean took her bedroom. Everything was mostly clean and organized, and it definitely looked like a woman's room. His eyes were drawn immediately to her overflowing bookcase. Her bed was made. He wasn't getting any clues at all.

He was going through her dresser when he heard movement behind him. "You know, it's not polite to go through a lady's things," she said with an edge to her voice that wasn't there when she was fully awake. "Also, it's not really legal, _agent_," she threw his words back at him. But then she yawned, ruining the intimidating effect.

Dean figured it was probably time to tell her who they really were. "Yeah, I'm not really a federal agent," he started.

"Could've had me fooled," she bit back.

"Me and my brother, that's Sam, we hunt monsters," he explained further. "You know all the ghost stories and stuff that used to terrify you as a kid? Well, they're real. And we're pretty sure the other two girls were killed by a monster, and now it's targeting you."

"Why?" she asked. She didn't seem to be doubting the main premise of his confession, which was good.

"Why what?"

"Why me? Why am I being targeted?" she clarified.

"We don't know yet," Dean admitted. "But your nightmares, they're why we think you're the next target. The other two girls were having terrible nightmares in the weeks leading up to their deaths," he explained. "We think that whatever's causing the nightmares is behind the killings."

"And what makes you so qualified to hunt these monsters?" she asked challengingly.

"Well, for one, it's the family business." She watched him expectantly for the rest of his reasoning, clearly not impressed with just that. "And I've been doing it pretty much my whole life," he added. She nodded, encouraging him to continue. "And honestly, the only other thing I can imagine myself doing is fixing cars."

"Fine. You're qualified," she stated dramatically. "Now, what's your plan to keep me from dying?"

"Find the monster and gank it," he stated confidently.

"Very specific and well thought out," she mocked.

"Well you're not going to like the specifics," he replied. "Because the specifics involve us watching you while you sleep to find out what is trying to kill you."

"Oh lovely. Next thing I know, you're going to tell me you're a 100-year-old virgin, and you sparkle." Ellie rolled her eyes at him.

"Is that a reference to one of those douchebags that claim to be vampires in popular culture?" he asked, disgust clearly showing on his face.

"Yes," she replied. "It was easily one of the worst written books I've ever read."

"Don't worry. This isn't to be creepy. It's to kill whatever is trying to kill you before it gets a chance." She nodded. Dean couldn't believe that she trusted him. She hadn't even known him a full day, and he had just told her his biggest secret, and she seemed hardly fazed by it. Maybe it was because she really was that tired, or maybe it was because she knew this was her only hope of surviving whatever monster was after her. Whatever it was, it was useful. It made it a lot easier to protect her.

"Your giant stays in the living room, though," she added, pushing past Dean to grab her pajamas from her dresser. "I don't think I can handle two creepers if I plan to get any sleep.

* * *

Ellie woke at dawn. Again. Her heart was pounding, her breathing was labored. The dream was fading fast from her memory, but the fear it had caused lingered. She glanced over to her reading chair where Dean clutched one of her pillows, clearly asleep. She was half-tempted to throw another pillow at him to wake him up. For all of his comforting words the previous night, he'd clearly fallen asleep before the nightmares had hit her, and they remained clueless as to what was causing her dreams.

"I heard a noise," Sam said, poking his head in the room.

"Yeah, that was me waking up from a nightmare because your idiot brother fell asleep instead of protecting me like he was supposed to do," Ellie snapped. The lack of sleep was getting to her.

"I'm surprised he can sleep," Sam muttered, more to himself than to Ellie, but she caught it anyway. "I'll go get us some coffee if you wake him up."

"Deal," Ellie replied. "Cream and two sugars, please," she called to him as he went out the door. He signaled that he'd heard.

"Mmm, coffee?" Dean blinked awake in confusion.

"Yes. Your brother is getting us some," she replied. "Though you don't deserve any, Sleeping Beauty."

"Shit. I fell asleep," he cursed to himself. "Another nightmare?" he asked, confusion written in his furrowed brow. Ellie nodded.

She had tried her best to look alert and ready for the day so that she could leave a good impression on the important client at work. Still, she owned very little make-up, so the dark circles under her eyes were prominent, especially considering how fair her skin was. So she had dressed herself up in her best outfit (she was even wearing her favorite bra, which every girl knows adds about 10 points to the confidence scale), and she did her best to keep a friendly, open expression on her face.

"You look pale, Martin. Are you alright?" her boss asked when he walked into work.

"A little tired," she admitted. "My neighbors have been keeping me up lately, so I'm trying to get used to a new sleeping pattern," she lied. It was better than admitting that nightmares were the cause, as if she was a five-year-old or something.

"Right. Have Katie downstairs fix you up before the buyer gets here," he replied. Ellie just nodded, and scooted off to Katie, hoping the girl would be helpful.

"Oh my god," Katie said after Ellie had spilled her tale (well, the bits about needing her face fixed because she couldn't sleep). "Is Mr. Lawrence pissed that you look like this with the big book company coming in? I mean, you look like you haven't slept in about a month." Katie was a nice girl (unlike most of the people Ellie worked with), just a little vapid. And blunt. It was the reason she spent most of her time sorting manuscripts, and not dealing with clients.

"Probably," Ellie admitted. "So do you think you can make me look less like a horror movie villain and more like the personal assistant of the director of sales at a large publishing house?" she asked.

"Oh yeah. Totally. Although I might have to go a few shades darker with your skin tone. I don't think I've ever been that pale."

Katie chattered away as she painted Ellie's face, but Ellie just zoned out, not really paying much attention to anything. Instead, she let her thoughts drift, wondering about her predicament and whether or not Dean and Sam were figuring anything out.

Dean had explained to her that morning (at her insistence) that they mostly spent time researching mythology and things like that when they were trying to figure out what sort of monster they were up against. He also explained that they usually started with their father's journal, to see if there was something he'd encountered that matched what they were up against. So far, they'd been drawing blanks on both ends.

Ellie had then suggested a library in the city that she knew had quite the rare book collection, and also mentioned that the brothers were free to use her wifi if need be. Dean had nodded, accepting her suggestions. She could tell that, for whatever reason, he was holding back one of his resources, and not just because he didn't want to share it with her. It was as if his pride was stopping him from using it.

"Ooh, I know that face," Katie said suddenly, pulling Ellie back to reality. "The reason you're so tired. There's a new man in your life, isn't there?" And then Katie winked lewdly.

"What, no!" Elle gasped. "It's like I told Mr. Lawrence, my neighbors have been keeping me up, and I'm trying to establish a new sleep schedule around that."

"No, you're trying to establish a new sleep schedule around sex," Katie said. "Be real." Ellie blushed because even though it was completely untrue, she couldn't believe Katie was talking about it. And more importantly, she _wished_ it was true. Even if she didn't want to admit that to herself.

The rest of her day passed with little of consequence actually happening. She did her job, and didn't get criticized by anyone (which was a fairly rare occurrence). The worst thing that happened was the other assistant sending her dirty looks when nobody else was looking. After the makeup job Katie had done on her, Ellie looked amazing.

It wasn't until she was grabbing her things and getting ready to go home that anything actually interesting happened. "I'm federal agent Johnson and this is my partner agent Young," she heard a familiarly deep voice stating. She wondered why Dean would really need to bother her at work. "We're looking for Ellie Martin."

"She's right through there," she heard a scared-sounding girl point them through.

"Thanks for the help," Sam said in a kind voice. Ellie could hear his brother storming through to where she was.

"May I help you?" her co-worker asked pointedly in a snotty tone as the two men (wearing suits, Ellie noted) came up to their desk.

"I was just about to leave," Ellie said before Dean could sass back. "Unless you really wanted to see where I work," she added.

"No, it's fine," Sam said. No one was going to let Dean talk for fear of him making a mess of her work. "We can continue our investigation elsewhere."

"Just let me grab my purse and we can walk out together," she smiled as she grabbed for her bag.

* * *

"So you're going to _actually_ stay awake this time?" Sam asked his brother.

"Why is it that you suddenly don't trust me?" Dean glared.

"Um, because you fell asleep on the job yesterday?" Sam suggested. "We don't need that happening again. Every night she has nightmares, she's one step closer to dying."

"I'm well aware, Sammy," Dean muttered. "And it's not my fault that her chair is ridiculously comfortable. I'm telling you."

"Do you guys mind arguing a little more quietly?" Ellie asked, popping her head out of the bedroom. She had made it clear that she was going to spend the night reading as soon as they'd returned to her apartment. Sam had gone back to doing research, not fazed by this decision, but Dean wanted to do _something_. Anything. Even if it meant just staring at Ellie.

For whatever reason, he found her fascinating. She was different. For starters, she spent less time on her hair than he did (which was saying something), and yet she still managed to put his brother's luscious locks to shame (he mentally reminded himself to taunt Sam about his hair at an appropriate moment). Any smartass comment he made was responded to with one of her slightly more clever smartass comments. Not only that, but she had a tendency to actually start the battle of the wits.

All of this meant that they had to save her. Dean would never let himself live it down if they didn't. She was cute and kind and totally didn't deserve to die at the hands of some monster.

Some time later, Dean found himself back in Ellie's room, staring as she tried to fall asleep. "Mm, if I wasn't so sleep-deprived, I would probably have a lot more trouble falling asleep," she said, rolling over and clutching at her stuffed animal. Dean found it a little strange that a woman her age had a stuffed animal, but didn't comment on it.

"So then sleep," he replied.

"I will," she countered angrily. "It's difficult when someone's staring at you," she huffed.

"Occupational hazard," he replied. "Now go to sleep so I can save you." For whatever reason, he found himself irritable. It wasn't that he didn't _want_ to save her. He did. But he was also strangely attached to this girl who had fallen into his lap little more than 24 hours previous. There was just something about her that told him he should take notice of her. Something that said she was important, and not just to this case.

She was quiet after that, but Dean could tell she wasn't happy about it. He could almost feel the nervous energy coming off of her in waves. She shifted around in the bed first lying one way then the other. She flipped her pillows around. Finally, she stilled, and her breathing slowed. She was finally falling asleep.

Unfortunately, it took a bit longer for the thing to show up. It was a few hours before Dean saw movement again. He was snapped out of a daydream by the rustling of something climbing in the window. He watched, not moving an inch as an ugly thing in an even uglier hat moved toward the bed.

Dean reached for his gun slowly, and started to get up from the chair. Unfortunately, that movement was enough for the creature to notice him. It was startled, and jumped away from Ellie, moving swiftly toward the window, Dean thumping after it, not caring to be quiet now that it knew he was there. But it got away, jumping out the window and disappearing from Dean's sight. He cursed.

Ellie moved, woken slightly but the ruckus. "Huh?" she said, looking more adorable than ever (Dean grit his teeth as he mentally admitted this to himself).

"Go back to bed," Dean replied. "It was nothing."

"Mmm," she said, rolling back over and clutching her pillow tightly.

* * *

Ellie felt refreshed as she hadn't in days. She woke to full sun beating in through her window, and she wasn't covered in sweat, her heart beating out of her chest. Instead, she was warm and comfortable. She grabbed at her phone to check the time. It was a Saturday, so she didn't have to work, but she still wanted to know what time it was. 10:30. Perfect.

Ellie stretched and let out a noise (because stretching always felt better when you did), before rolling over and trying to talk herself out of bed. Even though she was fully rested, she still hated getting out of bed.

She heard a groan from across the room, and glanced over to see Dean stirring as well. "Ugh, my neck," he let out, rubbing the specified body part. "Chair's comfortable as hell, but it's still a chair," he muttered.

"Whatever you did, thank you," she said. "I didn't have any nightmares and I finally got some sleep."

"Yeah, well I didn't catch the sucker, so my guess is that it'll be back. And it'll be angry too," he replied. "But now that I've seen it, maybe me and Sam'll be able to figure out what it is and how to gank it."

"Right," Ellie said. "Does this mean I'm not going to die?" She looked at him, almost saddened by the fact that this probably meant he would leave. She barely knew the guy, and yet here she was, hoping that he'd stay. "Well, I mean, not anytime soon, anyway. Everyone dies eventually," she amended.

"Well, like I said, it'll probably be back," he replied. "And it will be ruthless. So we'll probably have to keep an eye on you for a while." She really hoped that the look on his face meant that he was relieved about this too. That he wanted to stick around and get to know her like she wanted to get to know him.

"Okay," she said. "Breakfast?" she suggested. She was starting to understand that if she offered him food, Dean was down for just about anything.

He got a hungry look in his eye and replied, "Yes."

Ellie was determined that after breakfast, she would help the brothers with their research. Even if it just meant googling something for them, she wanted in on the investigation that would help keep her alive. She did _not_ want to be the damsel in distress. She liked to think of herself as less of a Princess Peach and more of a Samus Aran. At least, old school Samus Aran. The one who was a badass and killed all the terrifying space monsters. She hadn't heard good things about the newer Metroid games.

So when Sam pulled out a laptop, and Dean a battered-looking, leather-bound journal, Ellie got out her computer too. Feeling silly and a little out of place, she just put in some basic words into the search engine. And within a few hits, she found something that made sense. Especially after Dean's description of the creature.

"Have you guys heard of an Alp?" Ellie asked, looking up and realizing she'd startled the two men who were clearly engrossed in their research.

"What, like mountains?" Dean asked, his brow furrowed. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"No. Not those alps," she wrinkled her nose. "When I googled creatures that cause nightmares, this was one of the results." She spun her laptop around to show them. Both quickly scanned through the article, noting the similarities between this creature and what was happening.

"Think Bobby's ever dealt with one?" Sam asked his brother, emoting through his eyes. Ellie wondered at the differences between the two. Sam was all puppy-dog eyes and lots of emotions, and Dean was rough and tough, and the only emotion that seemed readable in the man's eyes was determination.

"I don't know," Dean admitted. "We should find some more sources, though. Check the library she mentioned," here he gestured to Ellie, "look more online. We gotta be sure how to kill this thing."

"It doesn't look like you can, though," Ellie muttered, looking worried. "According to this, the best thing you can do is rip out its evil eye or whatever."

"Or we can find its master," Sam replied, pointing to a different section of the article.

"I hate witches," Dean let out a groan.

"Yeah, yeah. Body fluids, unsanitary," Sam rolled his eyes at his brother. "Come on. We've gotta hit the books." Dean groaned again, this time louder.

"I'm coming with," Ellie announced, grabbing for her things. "Whose car are we taking?"

"Mine," Dean said sharply.

* * *

Dean had set Ellie to flipping through his father's journal. He was fairly positive, given the amount of times he'd looked through it, that there was no mention of an Alp anywhere in there, but he needed to give her something easy to do. Not that doing research for Hunting was tough, but there were certain things that you picked up on over the years, like which method of killing was the most likely to be the correct one.

She seemed fascinated by John Winchester's exploits, and it seemed like she wanted to properly read each of the entries, but was forced to skim over them because she was actually looking for something. Dean felt a small smile tugging at his lips. For someone so new to this world, Ellie was taking to it surprisingly well. Although, as far as monsters went, the Alp wasn't exactly high on his list of the most dangerous. He imagined that if she ran into some real trouble, like a vengeful spirit or a werewolf or something, she'd probably be having a little more trouble believing everything.

Sam, who was sat across from his brother, was scanning through online databases, trying to find information. Dean usually left the internet research to his brother (actually, if he had it his way, Dean would leave pretty much all of the research to his brother), as Sam was better with a computer than he was. If Sam had found anything useful, however, he wasn't sharing.

Dean had taken the actual print research for himself. He had grabbed a few books on old German and Austrian folklore (as that's where the Alp's origins lay), and started scanning through them as best he could. It was taking a while, but he figured he would find something eventually. Well, he hoped, anyway.

A few hours into their search, and Dean could barely look at the pages in front of him. Sam was still staring at his screen with a determined focus, scrolling through online text. Ellie was making funny faces and tugging on a strand of her hair, clearly reading a page, and not skimming it. In fact, she was doing a lot of moving; she was probably restless and bored.

Dean cleared his throat, and the other two looked at him questioningly. Dean was used to his brother's big, brown puppy eyes looking at him with that kind of intensity, but to see Ellie's bright, curious hazel ones as well, he was thrown off a bit. "We should probably head out, get some food, and, you know, share with the class," he said quietly. The other two nodded in agreement. Dean sighed in relief. He could only sit in a library for so long.

* * *

They were back in Ellie's favorite diner, now 2 full days after they'd met. It was strange to Ellie as it felt like it had been a lot longer. It was also strange because she was leading the way. But it was her hometown, so it was almost to be expected.

"Your usual spot, sweetie?" Dawn asked when the group walked in. Ellie nodded with a smile. "All three of ya?" Ellie nodded again. "Right this way."

"I like this booth better," Dean stated when they were all sat down and had ordered their drinks. They were sitting the same way they had the first time they'd met. It was strange to Ellie, sitting in the booth she and her mother had always used, but with two people who were most certainly not her mom.

"Yeah. It's the best table in the place," Ellie replied. Usually, she sat in the corner and stared out the window. She was also usually alone. "It's in the back, away from everyone else."

Ellie looked down at the table, running her fingers over the familiar scratches. She felt easier at the table than she did conversing with the two men. She could feel their stares on her, but she didn't care. For whatever reason, she'd been feeling nostalgic lately, almost as if she was saying goodbye.

They ordered not too much later, and then shared what they'd found. Sam had gotten the most information, followed by Dean, who had found a few mentions of the creatures, and Ellie hadn't found anything. She wasn't surprised. Dean had been honest when he'd handed her the journal, and he seemed fairly certain that their father hadn't run into an Alp, and so she'd just skimmed through all the other fantastic beasts the man had run into. Despite being a part of this investigation, she hadn't really seen anything unusual. It was all a bit surreal, this idea of monsters and ghosts. She wondered if it would ever really sink in for her.

"So the plan, basically, is that you watch me in my sleep again only this time, you know what you're facing, so you trap it?" Ellie asked once they'd been over it a few times.

"Yeah, and we rip its evil eye out or trace it to its master or whatever we have to do," Dean replied gruffly.

"This is all operating under the assumption that it comes back," Ellie reminded him.

"Yeah, something tells me it will," Dean replied. Ellie wondered why Sam was being so quiet. Of course, a lot of this left him out. Ellie just wasn't comfortable with both brothers in her room while she was trying to sleep (not to mention the fact that there wasn't _room_ for both of them in there. She only had the one chair!), and she felt a strange bond between herself and Dean which may or may not have had something to do with her attraction.

"He's getting in through the window, right?" Sam asked.

"He did last night, anyway," Dean replied.

"So we'll need something to block that closed once he's in. According to everything we found, iron works well against it, so we'll need that," he started listing off a bunch of things that seemed to make sense to Dean, but left Ellie a little lost. She was actually kind of glad that her only role in all of this was being the bait, especially since it really only meant that she had to sleep.

Still, she could find herself getting used to this. Despite not really knowing what was going on, she was having way more fun than she ever did at work. And honestly, she'd been quite lonely just a few days ago. It felt like she finally had something worth doing again. She hadn't felt that way since she'd finished school.

* * *

The plan was in place. Everything was set. The only way in or out of Ellie's room was the window, and even that was easily changed, and would be as soon as the damn little creature snuck into Ellie's room that night. Dean was almost sad that the job was almost over. In the two days he'd known her, he'd already grown fond of how quick-witted Ellie really was. She wasn't just sassy either. She was smart as a whip. She had figured out in a matter of minutes what Dean and Sam had stumbled around for days.

Ellie looked nervous. She was glancing around her room warily, eyes flitting around from one object to another. Dean watched her with a furrowed brow, but she didn't seem to notice. She continued to just stand there, shifting with anxious energy. Dean wanted to calm her down (for the sake of the case, he assured himself), but didn't exactly know what to do. So he just kept watching her.

"Right. So I've got to sleep," she announced. Dean just nodded, an amused smirk formed on his lips. "Which should really be easy. I've been doing it for over 20 years. How difficult can it be?" Her voice squeaked a bit. "But there's a thing coming after me. And you're going to fight it. And we're trapped in my room until you do." She squeezed her eyes shut, probably trying to will it all away.

"And then you're safe, free to live out the rest of your life," Dean said in the most comforting manner he could manage. "It's just like last night, and the night before," he told her.

"You're right," she said, her face transforming with her resolve. "I've just got to sleep."

She climbed into bed and Dean turned the lights off before heading to his seat in the chair next to Ellie's bookshelf. She settled into her bed, twisting and turning nervously. Dean sat, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the lack of light, his hand shifting to the knife he had on him, just making sure it was still there.

Ellie shifted around for quite a while longer, letting out sighs every so often. She was clearly having trouble falling asleep. Dean figured it probably didn't help that there was a man, armed to the tooth, staring at her. It had been easier the previous night, when she hadn't been aware of just how many weapons he carried on him at all times. There was also the added pressure of trying to capture the stupid Alp, and the fact that she wasn't nearly as exhausted as she had been.

Dean wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say to her. She was pretty good at taking care of herself, from what Dean could see. After meeting her, he and Sam had looked up her records and found that she'd been living on her own since the death of her mother in her senior year of high school. But she didn't mention anything about it, even when Dean had mentioned his father's death when explaining the man's journal.

In fact, now that Dean thought about it, Ellie hardly mentioned her feelings at all (something Dean was fairly certain was a unique feature in someone her gender). If it wasn't for her expressive eyes and tell-tale body language, Dean was pretty sure he'd never know what she was really thinking.

"No pressure or anything, but this plan kinda hinges on your ability to sleep," he finally said.

"Yeah, no pressure," she grumbled. "I'm _trying_." He could hear the annoyance thick in her voice. "Gah!" she flipped over onto her back. "You know how when you're a kid and it's Christmas, and you just can't sleep because you know you get to open presents when you wake up, and you're just so excited?"

"Not really," Dean admitted. "Our Christmas weren't exactly Hallmark quality. And I can barely remember what things were like before Mom…" he trailed off.

"Sorry," she muttered. "I didn't know. I just-I guess this is actually more of a pre-first day of school jitters than Christmas anyway." He could tell she was rambling from the nerves.

"Just, think about something else," he suggested in what he hoped was a supportive voice.

"Yeah. Great advice. Why didn't I think of that?" her use of sarcasm was not lost on Dean.

"Well, I'd tell you a story, but all of mine end in violence or sex. Occasionally, both." He smirked, despite the fact that she couldn't see it.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" She sighed and Dean could tell she was rolling her eyes. "Tell one anyway," she added. "Maybe it'll help."

Dean launched into one of his tamer tales of a Hunt he'd gone on with his dad after Sam had gone off to college. Ellie giggled at all the right moments, but at a certain point, Dean could tell she was falling asleep. He heard her breathing even out, and let out a sigh of relief. Now he just had to wait for the Alp to come and try to attack her.

It was a couple hours before Dean heard any movement from the window. The creature stepped in, and Dean noted that its movements were angry. It was clearly upset about the disruption the previous night. It probably wouldn't be any happier with that night's outcome.

Dean gave it some time to get away from the window and move toward Ellie in the bed. He moved cautiously and quietly toward the window, shutting it and latching it, making sure there was no way to open it without touching iron. The Alp heard this, and spun around to stare at Dean. Now it looked vicious. Dean really hoped that it wouldn't take out its anger on Ellie and would instead lash out at him.

Dean whipped out his knife and started moving toward the creature, who kept moving toward Ellie, leaning down in a menacing manner.

"Wouldn't do that if I were you," Dean warned the creature. It shot him a challenging look, as it continued to threaten her.

"Wha?" she stirred. She glanced at the creature on her and let out a squeak, withdrawing as best she could, pulling the blankets toward herself defensively.

The Alp was thrown off balance, giving Dean the opportunity he needed. He lunged toward the ugly, goblin-looking thing, trying to grab it. It recovered just in time and hopped out of the way. Dean chased it around the room, and Ellie just looked on, terror clear in her eyes.

The Alp went for the window, trying to escape. Dean smirked at it and moved in a predatory manor. It noticed the iron on the window and snarled. Dean finally got a grip on the creature, and wrestled with it. While it was small, it was strong, and finally he subdued the Alp.

"Get Sam," he gritted out, holding it as best he could while it squirmed. Ellie nodded, and quickly dashed from the room to go get the younger Winchester.

They came back, Sam in the lead (unsurprising, considering he was nearly a foot taller than Ellie). "Oh shit," he muttered, moving to help his brother to keep the Alp in submission. The two then fought to keep it still, found its evil eye, and cut it out. The creature stopped squirming.

"You workin' for anyone?" Dean asked the creature gruffly.

"Huh?" it looked confused. "Where am I?"

"Great, it's forgotten everything," Sam sighed.

Dean opened up the window for it. "Go on, get out." The creature scampered off.

"Sooo, I'm safe?" Ellie asked, looking a little stunned.

"I guess so," Dean replied with a shrug.

"We'll stay the night, just to be sure though," Sam said quickly. "Dibs on the couch."

Dean shot his brother a questioning look. Sam clearly had some sort of strange ulterior motive, and Dean wasn't quite sure what his brother was thinking. Sam shot him a clearly fake innocent look back. "Fine, I'll sleep in the freaking chair again," Dean muttered.

"What about the monster blood on my bedroom floor?" Ellie asked in a whine. "And that thing?" she pointed to the eye that Sam was still clutching.

* * *

Ellie had been nice enough to prepare breakfast for the boys as they were gathering their things and getting ready to go back to their motel and leave. She felt it was the least she could do since they saved her life.

She felt strange after having seen the monster that had been plaguing her with terrible dreams. She hadn't questioned it when Dean had told her about the monster hunting, but she hadn't believed it, not really anyway. She had wanted to, but until there was actual proof, staring at her with its beady eyes and shiny teeth, deep down, she hadn't really believed it.

"Mind if I turn on the news?" Sam asked, pointing to her television. Ellie rarely watched live TV, but when she did, it was usually just for the noise while she surfed the internet or read a book.

"That's fine," she replied, sipping coffee while she stood next to the cooking breakfast meats (there had been a divide between those who wanted bacon and those who wanted sausage, so Ellie was making both).

"Another mysterious death has occurred in Apple Valley, police report, around 4am this morning," Ellie heard the newscaster read off. "This is the third death this month of this nature, and police are beginning to suspect a serial killer. If you have any information on the Apple Valley killings, please call this number…"

"But we stopped the thing!" Dean said, a mouth full of toast. Apparently, he was too hungry to wait for the rest of the food to be done, so he'd started in on the toast already.

"Well, it was probably working for a witch or a demon," Sam suggested, wishing the newscaster would give some more details instead of moving on to the overly-energetic blonde woman who was showing some sort of attraction in the city.

"Did she say where it happened?" Ellie asked. She hadn't been putting her full focus into the news (she was never a big fan of it to begin with, and she really hated the depressing stories).

"Uh, near the high school, I think," Sam replied.

"Which one?" Ellie asked. "There are three."

"Well, it looks like we're going to be in Minnesota a little longer," Dean said, snatching a piece of bacon from the plate Ellie had lined with paper towels to soak up some of the grease.

* * *

Dean wished they could sneak Ellie into the crime scene, as she'd been quite the asset in the case so far. She was quick, and pieced things together that the brothers wouldn't even think of. Unfortunately, they didn't have a badge made up for her, and anything they could make that quickly would be unconvincing, so she was waiting patiently in the Impala, reading through their dad's journal to pass the time.

"Don't see why the Fed is stickin' its nose in our business," the cop said, leading them to the body, "but it's not like we've got any leads, so we could probably use the help." Dean was shocked at how willing the guy was. Usually, cops hated the FBI swooping in and stealing their cases.

"Tell us about the girl," Sam nudged.

"Sarah White. 21. She and a couple of her friends lived here, all of them go to the U in the city. The other girls say she wasn't sleepin' too well the last week. Kept screamin' and wakin' them up 'cause of nightmares, ya know. Otherwise, though, she was healthy." The cop shrugged. "And her heart stopped. Like she was scared to death. Same as the other two."

The body had been removed, but the room looked mostly undisturbed. Well, as undisturbed as the room of any young woman in her twenties. There were clothes strewn across the room, and the bed looked like she'd been struggling, but otherwise, nothing seemed too out of place. Everything could easily be explained away so that it looked as if she'd been alone in her room the whole time.

"What could a witch _want_ with these girls?" Dean whispered to his brother. I mean, we have not found a _single_ thing to link them, except their age."

"It could be a spell that requires a something from young girls," Sam suggested.

"Yeah, except the bodies have been completely intact," Dean grumbled. "Nothing. And I can't see anyone really having a grudge against Ellie, not to mention there haven't been any common contacts between any of the girls. I just don't get it."

Sam looked like he wanted to say something, but instead he bit his tongue.

"You guys need to see anything else?" the cop asked politely. "I don't mean to push, but I've got other things to deal with, and I'm not supposed to leave you guys alone in the crime scene. Protocol, you know." He shrugged like 'what can you do?'

"No, we're good. Thanks Officer Donovan," Sam said with his polite smile.

* * *

"Anything?" Ellie asked, popping up into a sitting position when Dean and Sam reentered the car. She had been lying back, looking through their father's journal, learning about the monsters John Winchester had faced during his day.

"Nope. We've got a big, stinking pile of nothing," Dean grumbled, starting his car. Despite seeming fairly angry, he treated the car gently, lovingly.

"We're trying to find a link between this girl and the other victims and why a witch would want to kill them," Sam explained to Ellie, who nodded. "Or a demon, I guess."

"But there's nothing. There's no one who could hold a grudge against all four of you, and the bodies have been left alone, so it's not like it's for some spell."

"Unless it's the death itself that's important," Ellie suggested. "Maybe we all have a specific characteristic in common. You know, like we're all blondes or virgins or something, and whoever's in charge of the killings needs a certain amount in a certain space of time or something."

"Virgins sounds the most likely," Sam admitted thoughtfully.

"But you're not…" Dean trailed off, glancing at her in the rearview mirror. He seemed a little shocked.

"And if I am?" she huffed, a little put out that he would be so upset about it.

"Why?" he asked incredulously. "I mean, you don't look religious or anything like that."

"It may shock you to hear this, but I'm not exactly a social butterfly. I don't get out much. Or ever. And when I am out in public, I have a tendency to keep to myself." Ellie shot an annoyed look forward.

"Yeah, but still," Dean looked shocked and confused. "You're not ugly, so guys must hit on you."

"Thanks," Ellie rolled her eyes, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Every girl dreams of the day some guy tells her that she's not ugly. And because I don't exactly go out to the bars or the clubs ever, the last time I got hit on was during undergrad. Sophomore year. And the guy was a complete idiot. Seriously, he makes reality TV stars look like Ivy League graduates." Ellie shuddered at the memory.

"Well they should, anyway," Dean said gruffly. "You should be hit on constantly."

By this point, they were back at Ellie's apartment. The boys had taken up residence there, seeing as they weren't exactly using their motel room anyway. Ellie had let them because she was actually quite grateful for the company after so long being on her own.

Sam immediately picked up his laptop and started typing away, looking this or that up. Ellie wasn't quite sure. She just sat down in her favorite chair to sulk. Dean was looking at her inquisitively.

"What?" she snapped with a glare.

"Nothing," he said. He shook his head and repeated, "Nothing."

Ellie picked the journal up and started reading that. When she glanced up, Dean was sitting with a thoughtful (if disgruntled) look on his face. Ellie went back to John Winchester's account of a fight with a particularly malevolent spirit, but she wasn't taking much of it in. She was still distracted by Dean's near-disgust at the thought of her being a virgin.

"We need Bobby's help," Sam announced not too long later.

"What?" Dean said, snapping out of his reverie. Ellie, too, found herself shocked by the sudden conversation.

"We don't have the resources here to find what we want," Sam explained. "And Bobby will. So we call him and ask him what he knows. Come on, Dean."

"He's probably busy," Dean replied. "And we've got this. Ellie was right. It was probably a sacrifice of virgins." Sam looked at Dean like his older brother was being obstinate for no reason. Which Ellie was pretty sure he was. Well, no reason except for his enormous pride.

"Yeah, but we don't know _why_ they're trying to sacrifice us," Ellie said calmly. "Obviously it's nothing good. But if your friend Bobby has the resources to find out what _kind_ of spell it is, shouldn't we ask? I mean, there's no way you're going to find anything at the public library. I've spent half my life there. I should know."

Dean looked at her with penetrating green eyes, and she did her best to hold his gaze, to keep the look in her eyes firm and persuasive. He looked as if he was searching her for something. Finally, he responded with "Hmph, fine."

Sam left the room to make the call, leaving Dean and Ellie alone. "Don't see why you're taking his side suddenly," Dean grumbled.

"I just don't want any more girls to die," Ellie replied. "And the nightmares are awful," she added. "I can't remember much from them, but waking up day after day in a cold sweat, not knowing why, never quite getting enough sleep, wondering what's wrong and being too embarrassed to tell people what's really wrong because it shouldn't be affecting you so much." She had been looking down at her hands through most of her speech, but moved up to lock her gaze with his then.

"Yeah, I get it," Dean was the one who looked away this time. "I don't want any other girls to die either."

"Bobby says that the witch is probably gathering power. Killing virgins equals stronger magic, so that the witch can do something very big and very bad," Sam explained, walking back in. "He also called us idjits for not calling sooner." A pointed look was shot at Dean.

"Now we just need to find a witch," Dean replied, ignoring the last bit and the look. Instead, he just looked disgusted at the thought.

"Is it really that bad?" Ellie asked. These guys seemed pretty blasé about just about everything else that it could have been, but Dean was completely reluctant at the mention of a witch.

"They're all about spilling fluids and using body parts and blech," Dean shook his head as if he was trying to get the thought out of his head.

"Lovely," Ellie replied, scrunching her nose up in disgust.

"I take it you don't know any witches then?" Sam joked.

"Not that I'm aware of anyway," Ellie shook her head. "Are there any signs."

"Aside from blood and bones lying around, not really," Dean admitted. "Which means we'll probably have to find Alp number two and follow it back to its master."

"Who will be expecting us because we killed the first one," Sam pointed out.

"Sounds just peachy," Dean didn't seem particularly pleased.

* * *

After adding in the location of the third death, Ellie had looked at a map and had come up with an idea of a location. Dean had been a bit shocked, as he looked on while she was working. For someone who was new to this world and this life, Ellie was taking to it rather quickly. And more importantly, she was _good_ at it. Although it might have helped that she was familiar with the area. Still, she was useful, which was more than Dean could say for most of the people they helped.

Dean also hoped that she was right about the location as he turned down yet another identical-looking residential street. "The witch should be somewhere around here," Ellie announced, looking around. "I'm not going to be able to pinpoint her, obviously, but definitely probably around this block here."

"Now we sit and wait," Dean announced. "We should see the little sons of bitches coming from wherever the witch is at."

"There should be more than just the two," Sam added thoughtfully.

"Great. So we sit and wait for night. And then it's a stakeout." Ellie seemed a little disappointed.

"Pretty much, sweetheart. Need me to get you a juice box and a coloring book to help you pass the time?" Dean was patronizing her a bit, but also teasing her, hoping that she'd come back with something clever.

"That would be lovely. I really like fruit punch," she said, not missing a beat. "Oh, and make sure the crayons for my coloring book are Crayola. Everyone knows that Crayola makes the only good crayons. And the coloring book better not be lame either."

Sam was smirking in the passenger seat, trying not to laugh. Dean gave himself a second and then replied. "What do you want? Puppies and kittens? Ponies? Princesses?"

"Please," she replied. "I was thinking like Hello Kitty or superheroes. Although I guess Disney princesses wouldn't be bad either. Don't be afraid to get yourself the pony one though. I know you're into that." At this point, Sam couldn't hold it in and was laughing outright at his brother. "You should probably get Jolly Green something too. What does he like to color? Vegetables?"

Dean snickered at that as Sam's face fell. "Yes. Yes he does," Dean replied.

After a few hours of sitting in the silent car, looking out the windows at nothing, it was finally getting to be late enough for the Alps to head out. Sam was the one to spot one.

"Hey, there's a bunch of animals that don't look quite right," he pointed out. "And they're all leaving from that house." Ellie slid across the backseat to look out the other window, and Dean squinted past his brother to see the house in question.

"So, do we confront this witch right away?" she asked. "Or do we sit and wait?"

"You're not doing anything, sunshine," Dean told her forcefully. "You're going to wait here and stay safe while the professionals take care of this problem."

"Um, nope," Ellie said pointedly. "I want to know what this lady's up to. Why she wanted me dead. I don't take kindly to people wanting me dead. Even if this is the first time it's ever happened."

"We don't need you going in there and distracting us while we're trying to kill a witch. We already saved your life once. We don't need to do it again, this time saving you from your own stupidity," Dean growled.

"Yeah well let me help," she bit back. "I don't care what you say, there's no way you can keep me out."

"Look, Ellie, please stay. It's way safer for you in here," Sam tried to plead with her. She was clearly immune to puppy eyes, however, as she just shot him a fierce glare.

"No. There's no way either of you two can stop me from going in there." Dean wondered what her secret was, how she could be so sure they couldn't stop her. But he didn't question it.

"Fine. If you're going in there, you might as well go in armed," he replied. All three of them exited the vehicle, and he opened up the trunk, revealing the false bottom, and pulling out various weapons. Sam grabbed his favorites, and Dean grabbed what he figured he'd need, and then they looked at Ellie.

Dean finally started grabbing all of the smaller weapons they had and started handing them to her. Sam watched on in amusement as she tried to hold everything.

"What am I supposed to do with all of this?" she asked. "Where do I put it? It's not like my boobs are big enough to hide any of it, let alone all of it!" Dean was having trouble placing the expression she wore, but he knew it wasn't a particularly good one. "And I don't even know how to shoot a gun," she added as Dean put their smallest gun in the pile in her arms.

He shot her an amused smirk and she replied with an 'Are you kidding me?' look. He raised his eyebrows and then took some of the weapons from the pile and started tucking them into easy to access places. She seemed a little shocked as essentially manhandled her, and he figured, especially given her little confession earlier, that she was not used to being touched like this.

"Are you done then?" she asked as the gun had been shoved into the waistband of her jeans, her shirt falling to cover her back once again.

"I think so. For now at least," Dean replied playfully. "Still want to come with?"

"Let's just get this over with," she replied.

* * *

After sneaking through the house, something Ellie was surprisingly good at considering she never had to sneak, they stopped at a room that was clearly lit by candlelight. Ellie may not have known a whole lot about fighting the supernatural, but she was fairly certain that the candlelight thing was witchy behavior. The boys slowed in front of her making military gestures, pretty much proving her hunch.

She stopped behind them as they peered into the living room. All the weapons now hidden on her person added spots of tightness and uncomfortability. She could feel herself moving differently, more stiffly, trying to make sure the knives and gun stayed in their places.

The boys snuck into the room, Ellie close behind, as they snuck up on the witch preforming some sort of ritual. There was chanting and blood. Ellie acknowledged that Dean had been right: it was a mess.

"I take it you three are to blame for killing my minion?" the girl turned and it took all of Ellie's willpower to stop herself from gasping. There in front of her was Katie from work.

"Katie?" she let out, unable to stop herself.

"I never would've expected you to be a Hunter, Ellie?" Katie's eyes glinted malevolently. "It was so much fun, too, tormenting the little virgin." She cackled here, like the witch she was.

"Am I missing something?" Dean asked.

"We work together," Ellie said, barely above a whisper. She was finding it difficult to find her voice. "She works on the floor below me. She did my makeup Friday so that I wouldn't screw up the deal with the client."

"And teased you too. I knew exactly why you had those dark circles under your eyes," Katie's grin was catlike now. "Oh it was so much fun."

"So you did all of this just to spite Ellie?" Dean asked. "Seems a little crazy. Also, you didn't really have to kill those other three girls."

"Oh no, having my fun with the little virgin was just icing on the cake. No, I was doing this to get real power. Power you could never understand." Katie glared at the two men before her. "And then you three had to go and interrupt it. It's a pity, considering how gorgeous the two of you are, but I'm going to have to kill you. But first, I have some unfinished business with Ellie." Katie said the name in a sneer.

There was a struggle then, it was all a bit of a blur for Ellie. She saw Katie lunge toward her, but the boys blocked Katie's path, and tussling with the witch, who seemed to be a lot stronger than she should have been. Of course, Ellie realized, she did have the power from the three dead virgins. Ellie wondered how many she'd been aiming for in total.

Ellie backed up into a corner, trying to make herself as small as possible so that she didn't get in the way while the brothers struggled to kill the witch. She also found herself watching the fight through her fingers as her hands had somehow made it up to cover her face.

And before she knew it (and also after what felt like an eternity) it was over. The boys were panting over Katie's dead body.

"Should we burn her?" she heard Sam ask.

"Yeah probably," Dean gruffly replied, wiping some blood from his brow. It wasn't his. "Freakin' witches. They're always a mess."

* * *

While Dean enjoyed Ellie's company, he was not going to miss sleeping in a chair every night. He had been half-tempted, after the fight with the witch, to just crawl into Ellie's bed with her. It wasn't like she was using the whole thing anyway. But he didn't, being the gentleman he was (and often pretended not to be), and instead suffered through the neck pain from his fourth straight night sleeping in a chair.

When he woke up to see Ellie staring at him, a troubled look on her face he worried that she'd had another nightmare and that he'd have to find another monster to gank to make it all right. "It's a little early in the morning for you to look so serious," he said, passing a hand over his face, as if that would wake him up more quickly.

"It's 10:30 in the morning," she replied.

"Don't you have to work or something?" he asked, realizing that she was one of those people who actually had a 9-5 job.

"Nope. I quit," she stated simply. "My boss was furious. My coworker was ecstatic."

"Why would you quit?" Dean was puzzled. It was way too early for this.

"Because you're going to take me with you," she said. "I may not be any good at fighting, but I can learn. And I'm way better at figuring things out than you and your brother, clearly. If I had left it to the two of you, you would still be fumbling around trying to figure out where the witch was. Or worse, you wouldn't even know what the creature was!"

"What makes you think I'm going to agree to something as stupid as that?" Dean asked. He couldn't take this girl with him. It was way too dangerous.

"Because I'm tired of just sitting around doing the same thing every day. I want to get out and have my big adventure. If I don't take it now, when am I ever going to get the chance again?" There was determination written all over her face.

"It's way too dangerous," he replied. "You've barely scratched the surface of what we do. Your friend Katie is seriously the least of our worries. We fight demons and werewolves and vamps. This isn't something you can just jump into."

"Yeah, well I can't live like this, knowing what's out there and not actively going after it. This is my one shot at adventure, and I'm going to take it. And," she faltered here. "And I've been lonely. Really lonely. Ever since my mom died. But when you and your brother showed up and sort of fell into my life… I didn't feel lonely anymore." Her eyes had softened.

"You're the one that did the falling," Dean replied. "Right into my lap."

"See, exactly!" Ellie remarked. "This was meant to happen."

"Maybe," Dean admitted.

"Ooh, one question," Ellie added. Dean nodded for her to continue. "So I see that you and your brother wear a lot of plaid. Is that like a dress code or is it more of a personal style thing? Am I going to have to wear a lot of plaid?"


	2. Trial by Vengeful Spirit

**Author's Note: I don't know how much I like this chapter, especially the beginning. It feels rushed. But I really just wanted it out of the way. There's some important stuff, but it just feels like filler. Also, it's much shorter than the last one… but that might be the rushed bit… I did want to get it out as soon as possible too, with all the positive support I've gotten for the first chapter. I'm grateful that you all want to read this. Enough with the gushing, though.**

_Disclaimer: Anything recognizable is not mine. I do not own Supernatural or any other copyrighted thing you may find in here. I'm just doing this for fun_.

"Woah," Ellie looked impressed as she stared at her new fake FBI badge. Dean had made her a whole set of all the kinds of IDs she'd probably need to help them out. "This is going to be fun." She cackled gleefully and Dean wondered if it really been a good idea to let Ellie join them, or to give her the fake IDs.

"Yeah, something like that," Dean muttered. He was pretty glad his brother was sitting in their motel room just then and not out with them. Dean had gotten enough of an earful when his brother learned they were taking the girl with them. He didn't need to hear Sam's 'I told you so's. In fact, that was the last thing Dean wanted.

"Oh come on, let me have my fun," she pouted, nudging him. "I feel like I'm in an action movie or something."

"Don't let Sam hear you saying stuff like that," Dean said. "This isn't a game, and my brother's a lot more uptight than I am."

"He's upset that I came along in the first place," Ellie said, instantly sobering. "Am I creating a rift between the two of you? Because that's not what I want at all—"

Dean cut her off. "No, it's fine. We just don't want you to get hurt. We didn't save you so that you'd go and get yourself killed, you know?" He looked down at her, trying to use his eyes to impress upon her the importance of her safety.

"I know," she replied, breaking his gaze and going back to the walking that they'd been doing previously. "I just… I feel more alive now than I ever did back home. I mean, sure I had a life, but I wasn't _living_. But as soon as we started trying to figure out the Alp thing, I started to feel important again."

"Yeah, I get it," Dean said roughly, thinking of his deal and how long he had left. "The threat of death made you feel like you wanted to do something with the rest of your life, leave some impression on the world. Trust me, I get that. Better than you can imagine."

They fell into silence as they walked through the small town back toward their motel where Sam was waiting (and trying to find them a new case to work on). Dean hoped his brother would find something. He needed a distraction from his impending doom, and while the blonde at his side would serve as an excellent distraction under normal circumstances, Dean was also trying to distract himself from her as well.

Upon returning, Ellie immediately headed for the sofa in their motel room, pulling out John's journal and setting to reading. It seemed that she was bound and determined to make it through the journal as swiftly as possible. Dean tried not to think about how cute she was when she was completely sucked into her reading.

"Anything?" he asked his brother, tearing his eyes from Ellie.

"This, maybe?" his brother suggested, spinning his laptop around so Dean could see.

"No. That seems like humans," Dean admitted. For someone who dealt with monsters so often, Dean was terrified of other humans. Monsters were sick and evil, but humans were unpredictable.

"Yeah, but it's the best I could find," Sam admitted with a shrug. "We could always head to Bobby's. We're not that far." Dean nodded. They'd only been driving to get away from the last town to avoid the problems that Hunters always left in their wake. All that into consideration, they were still ridiculously close to South Dakota.

"Probably a good idea. Plus, it'll get Bobby's lecture about our tagalong out of the way sooner rather than later." Dean glanced out of the corner of his eye at Ellie, who remained engrossed in his father's journal.

"Yeah, have fun with that one," Sam told his brother, clearly glad that the lecture wasn't his to received.

"Bobby's going to like her though," Dean pointed out.

"You're just saying that because you like her. And if you like her then everyone should in your world." Sam gave his brother a pointed look.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it," Dean grumbled. "If you heard her though, the way she talks about it… She wasn't happy, Sam. And now she is."

"Since when do you care about other people's happiness?" Sam asked, a look of skepticism clear on his face.

"She said she was lonely," Dean told his brother. "Said that this is the first time she hasn't felt lonely since her mother died." That was what had won Dean over in the end. Because Dean knew the importance of family. Ellie had lost the only member of her family she really had, and Dean knew that feeling. It was the same feeling he'd felt a few months ago when he'd made his deal.

* * *

With teeth brushed and pajamas donned, Ellie was thoroughly prepared for bed. She glanced around the motel room before curling up on the couch. She knew that the brothers would each take a different bed, and she didn't want to impose too much on their lives (since she was currently freeloading off of them).

"What are you doing?" Dean asked her, looking over the couch with an eyebrow raised.

"Going to sleep?" she said as more of a guess than anything.

"There's a perfectly good bed over there," Dean pointed to the bed that was clearly his.

"But I don't want to put you out of a bed. Again," Ellie was confused.

"You won't. We can share. The bed's big enough for two." He stared at her as she sat on the sofa, stunned. "There won't be any funny business. I promise. Unless you want it of course." Ellie wondered if he was being honestly flirtatious or just joking around.

"Okay," she said quietly, moving over to the bed. She took the left side, and curled up as small as she could make herself.

"You forgot this," Dean said, throwing her stuffed dog at her.

"His name is Rufus," she huffed. After catching it, she pulled it close to her, squishing it to her chest.

"What's a grown woman doing with a stuffed animal anyway?" Dean asked.

"Mom used to call me Pup when I was real little," Ellie shrugged, looking down at Rufus because it was easier. Dean's gaze was almost impossible to hold. He looked at her with those eyes and she couldn't think straight, and other stupid girly things like that.

* * *

"You what?" Bobby shouted at Dean. It was only his experience with vengeful spirits and various (always angry) demons that kept him from flinching.

Sam had taken Ellie out back to practice shooting. It served the dual purpose of teaching her something she very much needed to know, as well as getting her out of the way while Dean suffered Bobby's lecture.

"She wanted this," Dean replied. "She asked to come along."

"And you said yes?" Bobby glared at him. "You idjit. You know as well as I do how dangerous this is. She dealt with an Alp. What's going to happen when she runs into the demons that are running rampant?"

Dean's jaw was set. He knew how stupid it had been to let Ellie join them. He knew that it was even more stupid considering his impeding fate, and how he seemed to be the only one who thought that she should go with them.

"She's smart," Dean said suddenly, something coming to him. "She figured that Alp thing out way before me and Sam. And she likes research. Not like Sam, but you should see it, the way she reads Dad's journal any spare moment she gets. She's quick, and her ideas are different." Bobby's gaze was harsh and judgmental, but Dean could see it softening slightly.

"It's 'cause she hasn't got experience," Bobby replied, throwing the idea away as best she could.

"Maybe that's a good thing!" Dean shouted. "Maybe it means that she sees things we won't with her fresh eyes. Between our experience and her brain, we'll be better. We'll be able to save more people."

"So you're not keeping her around just because she's clearly in love with you?" Bobby asked, and Dean started to see what his real problem was.

"What? Yeah right," Dean scoffed.

"Does she know about your deal? About your countdown?" Bobby asked pointedly.

"It's not exactly something I go telling everyone I meet," Dean sputtered.

"Well she deserves to know, if you plan on keeping her around to stroke your ego."

* * *

Ellie was sitting on the couch reading John's journal when she suddenly felt a presence. She marked her place, then stared up at the three men in front of her. All of them were staring down at her in a semi-terrifying manor. "What?" she squeaked. All she'd been doing was reading. She was fairly certain she'd missed something.

"This," Dean shoved a newspaper in her face, pointing to a small article. She didn't waste any time worrying about how gruffly he was acting toward her, but instead took the proffered paper and read it over.

"That's a few towns over?" she asked, glancing up at them. She hadn't memorized the area yet, but she had always been fairly decent at navigating. Bobby nodded. "And it's some sort of paranormal—" she glanced at the article again, "Spirits?" she guessed, using the information she'd amassed from reading John Winchester's journal (and a few other books she'd squeezed out of the boys).

"Probably," Bobby said. "And we're going to investigate it."

"Okay," Ellie nodded. She'd known that at some point she'd have to face a monster again. At least all the investigation and knowing ahead of time gave her a chance to steel her nerves for it. "I'll try not to get in the way too much." She thought of the brief weapons training she'd received since arriving in South Dakota.

"Bobby wants you to run point," Dean grumbled. Ellie wondered why exactly Dean seemed so subdued. "He wants to see how good you really are."

"How good I am?" she squeaked yet again, not understanding. This was her second case. How could she already be good at it?

"Dean told Bobby how quickly you figured out the last case," Sam explained, shooting his brother a smug look, as if he'd anticipated this happening. Ellie felt bad for the rift she seemed to be creating.

"Oh," she said. The syllable was weighty with the mixed emotions she was feeling. It was a lot of pressure to be put under, especially since she'd only solved the last one so quickly because it had been her life on the line. She wasn't confident at all that she could replicate the results, but she definitely wanted to win Bobby over. He was clearly important to the boys, and they were important to her as the bringers of her new life.

That was how, a half hour later, Ellie found herself standing in a moderately sized (for South Dakota, that is) town. "So me and Ellie'll go look at the first house, and you two can take the second," Dean said to Sam and Bobby. Sam seemed fine with this, but Bobby disagreed.

"No. I want to see Ellie in action. You two can take the first house. We'll take the second." Bobby shot Dean the kind of look that parents wear with their children. The kind that says 'don't argue with me.' Ellie tried to soften the blow with her own apologetic one, essentially saying 'what can you do?'

"Fine," Dean grumbled. He turned to Ellie specifically then, and added, "Be careful."

* * *

"I already told the police," the woman insisted. "It's in the report."

"We're really sorry, ma'am," Sam said, sounding truly apologetic, "please just bear with us, and tell us everything you can remember."

"A lot of times, the police reports aren't as thorough as we'd like and we prefer to do our own investigation," Dean added. They were pretending to be insurance agents, and it was the sort of thing they had done a million times. Dean wondered why exactly Bobby thought this would be a good show of Ellie's mental prowess. It seemed like a pretty cut and dry case of a vengeful spirit.

"Well, he just—suddenly there was…" the woman was choked up. This clearly was not going to be easy.

"I know it's difficult, but please, we want to help. We want to find whoever did this to your husband," Sam said. He was always better with people, even if sometimes Dean thought he was a little too honest.

"Well he had this thing. Found it online, mounted swords like you'd find in an old castle," she explained. "And it was just over there." She pointed to the mantle above the (fake) fireplace. "So the other night, we heard a noise when we were getting ready for bed, so he came down to check it out. And I heard a big noise, and when I came down here, one of the swords was sticking out of him."

"And the other one?" Sam asked. They were finally starting to get somewhere. "The other sword and the mounting?"

"They were gone. Just completely gone," the woman replied. "Vanished. And good riddance, honestly. I always thought they were ugly."

"Do you know the site where your husband found the swords online?" Dean asked.

"No. He used to spend all of his time on there looking at weird stuff like that," she replied, pointing to their computer.

"Do you mind if we take a quick look?" Dean asked. She shook her head and gestured as if to say 'feel free.'

Sam messed around on the computer, Dean looking over his shoulder the entire time, but his mind was elsewhere. He had to admit that he was worried about how well Ellie was doing. Bobby wasn't exactly easy to get along with at the best of times, and she had the added pressure of trying to impress him with her brains. It wasn't an easy task considering how astonishingly smart Bobby was himself.

"None of these seems too suspicious," Sam said, jarring Dean out of his thoughts. "I mean, it's a bunch of nerdy sites, but nothing that looks like it makes its living selling the occult."

"Figured as much," Dean muttered. The wife was looking at them. "Thank you for your time, ma'am." He smiled and the brothers exited, still knowing very little about what had actually happened.

* * *

"Was it a recent purchase?" Ellie asked the man standing before her. The victim had been a young man, probably around her age, who lived with his friends in a small rental house. They all seemed to be on the nerdier side of things, especially the one who'd bought mounted medieval swords and hung them in his bedroom, only to have died with one sticking out of him.

"Mmm, can't remember," the guy said. "I know it came when we were doing a raid." He looked thoughtfully.

"Did he buy it for any specific reason? Not just that it looked cool, but like did it resemble something from a movie or a game or something?" she suggested it.

"I think he said it was just like what his D&D sword looked like," the guy admitted. "Well, they both did. He was a dual-wielding—"

"We don't need to know about his character, boy," Bobby stopped him. "We're tryin' to find out how he ended up impaled with a mounted sword."

"Well, I've gotta get back to my MMO anyway," the guy replied with a huff.

Ellie and Bobby headed out after that, but Bobby stopped her once they were in a private enough place.

"Well, any bright ideas?" he asked her.

"The spirit's in the sword," she said simply. "Or at least, bound to Earth by it. So it was someone's treasured possession. Find out whose and we find the spirit."

"Yeah, the only problem is that we need to find the swords. All of them," Bobby reminded her.

"So step one is finding out where he bought the sword. Which should be a little easier when we're able to cross-reference purchases with the first death. My guess is that that was a sword too. Although what person has four swords important enough to be mounted and then later kill two people?" Ellie looked up at Bobby to try to discern the man's emotions and if she was doing all right. She couldn't tell anything.

"That's the question, all right."

Ellie and Bobby met up with Sam and Dean at a local diner (Ellie was starting to realize that they spent a lot of time in diners). They related basically the same story as Bobby and Ellie had heard. Strange mounted swords suddenly ending up in dead bodies. Ellie and Sam compared the computer records of the two men, trying to find a common denominator.

"I'm sure you had a harder time getting the records than I did," Sam said, somewhat jealously.

"Nah, it wasn't that hard to break into this guy's computer," Ellie admitted. "But it was _such_ a nice computer. Custom built, top of the line graphics card, more RAM than you'd know what to do with," her eyes probably glazed over at the memory. "Even the case was custom," she added. "I mean, I'm not into MMOs, but his was built in theme to his favorite."

"Can you speak English please?" Dean asked, looking almost put off of his super greasy something (Ellie was pretty sure he'd ordered the least healthy thing on the menu. It sure looked good, though, in an artery clogging sort of way).

"Dude had a sweet gaming computer," Ellie said. "If I had the money or the time or the know-how, I would have built one for myself. But, he didn't have a whole lot of protection. He wasn't a programmer or anything."

"Right," Dean nodded. "Is any of that important?"

"Well, it means his records were easy enough to access," Ellie replied. "But none of the online purchases these guys made lines up."

"Yeah," Sam looked confused. "The only place they were both buying from seems to be their MMO subscription."

"What's an MMO anyway?" Dean asked angrily.

"Mass Multiplayer Online," Ellie listed. "Basically it's a game where people all over the world play together. It's a good way for a nerd to meet friends without actually having to meet people. The only reason I'm not into one… well, actually, there are two. One is that I don't have the time, because they're a time sink, and the second is that I don't even like online people. If I'm gaming, I like to do everything by myself. Because I'm a control freak like that."

"Riiiight," Dean seemed a little wary at the thought.

"But, back to the matter at hand, as far as IRL purchases go, they both stopped at the same pawn shop on the same day," she pointed to their credit card purchases.

"You don't really think…" Dean trailed off.

"Actually, I do," Ellie replied. "And it's also our best lead. Hopefully it's not too skeevy in there."

* * *

Dean wondered briefly if this was what Ellie had meant by skeevy. Because the place was old and dusty and the guy behind the counter looked like he hadn't seen the inside of a shower in close to a decade. She was trailing behind him, and he could pretty much tell that she was drawing in upon herself, trying not to touch anything lest she contract some disease.

Sam and Bobby were posing as suits and interrogating the owner, while Dean and Ellie were left to look around, as if they were just a couple shopping or something. Actually, it would probably look a lot less suspicious if they acted like a couple instead of her cowering behind him.

He grabbed for her arm, pulling her forward gently, and she looked up at him in confusion. He leaned in and murmured "Just go with it," to her before perking back up and pointing at an awful-looking taxidermied animal and saying, "That one looks nice."

She threaded her arm through his, starting to see where this was going, but wrinkled her nose. "No," she stated simply. "Absolutely not."

"Oh come on," Dean all but whined. "It's so cool."

"You are _not_ getting a dead thing," she replied. "It's creepy. Look, it's looking at me." She leaned further into him and away from the possum? Was it a possum? "If you really want a dead thing, you have to be the one to kill it. And even then, I'd prefer if it was turned into a rug or something. I don't want it looking at me."

"Spoil sport," he pouted jokingly. "Fine, let's look back there." He led her to the back, and he could feel the owner's eyes on them with suspicion. He probably didn't get a lot of business that was even close to savory.

But Dean didn't get much chance to think on it, because Ellie's fingers tightened around his arm. She'd spotted something. Dean looked down to follow her line of sight, and spotted the amount of medieval weaponry the guy had in the back. "A mace?" she whispered, "who just has a _mace_?" Dean had to admit he was wondering the same thing.

"Well, I guess this means we're in the right place," Dean said quietly back.

Once Bobby and Sam had made their exit, the owner walked up to where Dean and Ellie were browsing through the weaponry. "May I help you two with something?" he asked, actually sounding kind of menacing. Ellie, at least, looked a little spooked.

"Yeah, actually," she recovered quickly. "Is all of this actually period?" she asked. "I'm big on authenticity."

"Yes, it's all authentic weaponry dating back to the 12th Century," the man replied seeming a little peeved that she would suggest it wasn't.

"Do you have proof? Not that I don't trust you, it's just that, well, you can never be too sure these days," she smiled warmly at him, and he smiled coldly back.

"Of course," the man replied. "Actually, they all came from the castle my grandfather owned in England. He had to sell it, the upkeep was unmanageable, but he kept as many of the family heirlooms as he could," the man explained as he drifted into the back of the shop.

He came back with an old photo album, and Ellie quickly looked through it. Dean was busy looking at the weapons themselves. Considering his life, he was pretty much an expert at weapons, and he could tell that these were, in fact real. Ellie, it seemed, had come to the same conclusion about the photos, and handed the man back his album.

"What was the castle called?" she asked.

* * *

"Well, they both bought mounted weapons from there," Sam said. "But there's no real way to track them from that," Sam related to Dean and Ellie. Dean was trying not to wear a proud smirk, but he was pretty sure that Ellie had found what they would need.

"Well, except that they're from the guy's family's old castle," Ellie replied. "And it shouldn't actually be all that hard to find who the weapons belonged to originally because of that. Also, I'm pretty sure the owner guy had some beef with our nerds, and he set the ghosts on our victims."

"And what makes you say all of that?" Bobby asked.

"I've read through Sherlock Holmes; I know how to deduce," Ellie replied jokingly. "But honestly, it's actually based on how he told us about the weapons. He was really proud of his family history. And honestly, I don't think he wants to sell the weapons, but they're probably the only thing that really smells in that dingy little shop of his. And then he got a couple of nerds coming in wanting to look like their game characters, and not actually caring about the history behind the weaponry? Yeah, that's not going to make someone like him, clearly proud of his weaponry and heritage, very happy. Motive."

"It's like we're on CSI or something," Dean muttered to himself, but he'd been watching Bobby the whole time, waiting for the man's reactions to Ellie's deduction. He seemed like he was trying to find something wrong with it, but it was the best that they had and Bobby knew that. Dean knew the man well enough to read him, and he could tell that Bobby was working very hard to not be impressed.

"Not really a fan of procedural crime dramas," Ellie replied. "I used to watch it all the time, though. I actually prefer mystery novels, and comedic television shows about fake psychic detectives. Comedies." Dean wasn't quite sure she had to punctuate the entire thing with the comedy note, but he didn't argue with it.

"Great, just lovely," Bobby's sarcasm was tangible three tables over. "I don't see how that helps us."

"Here, show me the castle," Sam suggested, pulling his computer out and sliding it over to Ellie.

"Did you get a copy of his sales records?" she asked, typing and clicking away, getting to some sort of information page on the castle. Dean was kind of astounded by her skill, and also the fact that there was someone who could match his brother in enthusiasm for research.

"Yeah, here," Sam passed across a sheet of paper. Ellie finally found what she was looking for and spun the computer for Bobby and Sam to see.

She scanned through the list, looking at the two highlighted marks, and then looking again, for something else. "I think I know who's going to get hit next," she said quietly.

"What?" Dean asked, grabbing the paper and looking for what she'd seen.

"Look, whoever this is bought something with a remarkably similar description to the mounted swords that killed our last two victims," she said, leaning into his personal space and pointing out a particular entry on the list.

"Yeah, we saw that too," Sam said, looking definitely not happy.

"So we go and save them," Dean said simply. It was pretty obvious to him. "What are we still doing here?"

"Waiting for your pie," Ellie replied, rolling her eyes at him.

"Love me some pie," Dean replied with a smile. He had almost forgotten the apple and cinnamon deliciousness that was coming his way.

After Dean had his pie and Sam looked into the castle where all of the swords were originating from, the four headed over to the address listed for the sale. Dean wondered how they were going to split up this time. Four people was too suspicious. They could probably get away with three, and it would be much better with two, but as a group of four, they were definitely going to deal with more trouble than they needed.

"Dean, Sam, you two go inside," Bobby decided for them. "I'll sit out here with Ellie." Dean wondered why Bobby thought that Ellie was better off in the car than on the job, but he didn't say anything, just went in without a word.

Dean let Sam lead, while he just observed. The man who answered the door seemed confused as to why they'd want to talk to him, but let them in anyway. Sam asked the man a few questions, trying to draw the necessary information out of him. Dean looked around as the man led them through the house.

When they made it to the living room, Dean saw the mounted swords leaning against the wall. He went over to get a better look at them, distracting the man from his brother's questioning.

"Oh, I just bought that the other day," he explained. "Haven't really gotten a chance to hang it. And Melissa isn't a huge fan…" he rubbed his neck in embarrassment.

"You mind if I get a closer look?" Dean asked. The man nodded and held out a hand as if to say," go right ahead." So Dean leaned in and ran a hand along the blades. Which lead him to discover that they were very clearly fake. They were real swords, sure, but they weren't period. Not by a long shot. They were good fakes, though, he had to give them that. Dean looked closer, trying to find some mark that would tie them to the maker. Any good artist, forger or not, wanted recognition for his work.

Dean spotted it. The artist's mark was meant to look like an appropriate period maker's mark, but it was just slightly different. Just slightly noticeable.

"I think I've got enough," Dean said. "Thank you, sir, for your time." Sam thanked the man as well and the two left.

"What'd you find?" Sam asked his brother in a low voice once they were out of the house.

"The swords were a fake," Dean told his brother.

* * *

"Fake swords?" Ellie asked, thoughtfully.

"I mean, they were pretty good fakes, but they were definitely made within the last century, easy," Dean told them all.

"That shoots a couple 'a holes in your theory," Bobby told her.

"Mmm," Ellie replied in thought. She still had a feeling that there was more to it than they were seeing. "Could you find out who made the sword?" Ellie asked. "See if there's any connection?"

"We could look up the maker's mark," Dean replied. "It's a start."

"And we should probably do it quick, before this guy dies too," Sam said.

Ellie felt kind of useless as the brothers and Bobby searched for the maker's mark, but there was nothing she could really do. She didn't know enough about weapons or maker's marks to be even remotely useful. So instead, she read through John Winchester's journal and waited for the men to come up with something.

Ellie was almost finished reading through the journal, and she wondered if Sam and Dean had one as well. It would make sense, the way John talked about Hunters in his. It seemed like they all had their own journal, and Ellie had seen Bobby jot some things down in his in the time that she'd known the man. But she had yet to see either Sam or Dean writing anything down.

"Well that's just gruesome," Dean said before Ellie could get too lost in her thoughts or the journal.

"What?" she asked, moving over so that she could see the computer screen. Dean moved over so that she could see (trying to see past three grown men at a relatively small screen was not an easy feat, so she was thankful for the gesture). She read quickly through the article Sam had pulled up. It was about a Renaissance Fair regular who made medieval-looking swords. According to the article, he'd been murdered by someone with his own sword, but the killer had never been found.

"Any brilliant ideas?" Bobby asked her.

"Yeah. Something tells me our pawn shop owner is his killer," Ellie replied. "Also, we're going to need to find his body."

The four split up yet again, Bobby and Sam going to exhume the corpse, and Dean and Ellie off to deal with the pawn shop owner. Before leaving, they had made sure that the pawn shop owner had been at the same Renaissance fair, and he had. In fact, it seems he'd gone on the circuit back then, just as the dead blacksmith had.

"Is it really fair, us saving a murderer?" Dean asked as they were heading up to the door of the pawn shop.

"Is it really fair that we don't know his side?" Ellie pointed out. "Maybe he had a good reason. Although, you'd think he'd have gotten caught if he wasn't the one provoking the attack."

Dean pounded on the man's door. He opened it angrily. "What the hell are you two doing here?" he asked, staring at them in confusion.

"So… those mounted swords that aren't from your family castle that your friend made," Dean started off in an accusatory manner. Ellie just stood there, trying to not look reassuring to the man. "I'm pretty sure you noticed that those two guys were killed by them. And then reacquired them to sell again. Which is why that guy Steve has a set, am I right?"

"What?" the guy tried to scoff, but Ellie could tell he knew exactly what Dean was talking about. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yeah ya do," Dean said almost ferociously.

"Did you kill him? The Ren Fair blacksmith?" Ellie asked softly.

"Wha-I-What, of course not!" the man fumbled around guiltily.

"It's all right, you know. We're not cops. We just kind of need to know," she tried her best to do the eye thing that Sam seemed to do to get answers.

"Why should I tell you anything?" the man was furious now, back pedaling steadily.

"Because you're going to be dead soon too with that on your mantle," Dean said, pointing to the coat of arms the man had hung there. Dean forced his way into the house, Ellie following close behind.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the man replied haughtily.

"There's a vengeful spirit killing people using those swords," Dean replied. "Now, my brother stole the other coat of arms from that Steve guy, but we need yours or else your dead friend is just going to keep killing people."

"Fine. Yes. All right," the man was clearly fed up with the lying now. "You're right. I did kill him. Because he stole Ariella from me. He stole her away and convinced her what a terrible guy I was. So I proved him right. And I killed him for the honor of the fair lady. Only she didn't want me anymore."

"So you stole his swords to make a profit?" Dean asked, sounding disgusted.

"I sold them to those idiots. They wouldn't be able to tell a real sword from a fake if it smacked them in the face. So I tricked them. They deserved it. But then they died. And I took them back and sold them again. Because I could. I'm a business man."

Dean said something to the man, but Ellie didn't hear it. She was a little distracted by the spirit that appeared behind the pawn shop owner, who was fuming. The spirit held a sword aloft, poised to attack the man. Without really thinking, Ellie grabbed the nearest thing she could think of that was made of iron, a strange statue of some sort the man had lying around, and lobbed it at the spirit. It dissipated, but not before Dean noticed what was going on.

"Hey! That was a family heirloom! It's centuries old!" the man cried, now angry at Ellie.

"Yeah, and she just saved your life," Dean replied. "Ellie, go get some salt from the kitchen, I'll keep this guy safe." Dean leaned down and grabbed the statue. "Oh, and take this with you." She nodded and did as she was told.

It took her a minute, searching the unfamiliar kitchen for its stash of salt, but once she found it, she hauled it back to where Dean and the man were. "Behind you!" she shouted. The two men spun and there the spirit was again. Dean swung at it with a fire poker he'd taken from by the fireplace. It disappeared again.

"Make a circle," Dean told her, and she nodded, knowing full well what to do. She'd read enough about it in the last week. She took the salt and poured it neatly in a circle. "Both of you stand inside of it," Dean told them.

They did as told, and Dean slowly backed into the circle as well. "Nice thinking with the statue," he told her.

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to cower like I did last time with Katie," she replied. "And it was right there. I had to do something. I was the only one who saw the ghost."

The spirit reappeared again, this time he looked much angrier. He slowly moved toward them and Ellie felt a gust of wind. She realized quickly that he was blowing the salt away. Just as he was starting to become a threat again, his body was suddenly covered in flames.

"Oh thank god," Dean muttered. "Sam and Bobby got to the body on time."

The man was thanking them profusely, but Ellie couldn't take it. She was suddenly very angry about the fact that she'd just saved a murderer. "Dude you're so lucky we saved you," she said with a fury she didn't know she had in her. "You're a murderer. We should have let him kill you. You killed him. That's cosmic justice we just stopped. So maybe you should, I don't know, turn yourself in or something. You sicken me."

"I could kill you too." The man was clearly crazy. Ellie was starting to see that, "I killed Ariella when she wouldn't take me back after all I did for her. For us." There was a manic look in his eye.

"Look, buddy," Dean said, drawing and cocking his gun in one smooth motion. "I really wouldn't do that if I were you. She's right. She saved your life. You owe her one. And I really wouldn't mind putting a bullet through your skull. You're one crazy son of a bitch."

"Fine. Just get out of my house," the man replied, clearly knowing there was no way he could beat Dean.

"Right after we take these," Dean said, pulling the coat of arms from the wall. "Safety precaution. We gotta burn 'em. We wouldn't want your friend to come back and kill you."

"Actually, we'd leave it, but we're pretty sure you'd sell it, knowing what you know now," Ellie said nastily to him. "And we don't want an actual innocent to die."

"Come on, let's go."

* * *

"So?" Dean said to Bobby expectantly. Ellie had headed up to bed, exhausted from her sudden fit of bad assery, but Sam watched on from a distance.

"She's all right," Bobby replied begrudgingly. "She picks it up pretty quick. You're sure this is only her second hunt?"

"As far as we know," Sam replied. "I thought she was great."

"Yeah, because you two nerded out together," Dean scoffed. "But you guys didn't see her when the real action started. It was pretty impressive for a bookworm like her. Especially after last week's cowering in the corner."

"You're totally into her," Sam joked. "You got all sad whenever Bobby wouldn't let you partner up with her. And when you guys did, in that pawn shop, your first instinct was to pretend she was your girl. Admit it."

"It was a good cover. And it let us get the information we needed to make a break in the case," Dean replied, trying to remain aloof to his brother's judgment. He didn't want to admit, to himself or anyone else, that he maybe had a thing for their new tag along.

"No need to bicker, boys," Bobby said, shaking his head. "She's a good fit for the two of you. And a right bit smarter than you idjits too."

"Um," they suddenly heard her voice on the stairs. They all whipped around, each one surprised they hadn't heard her descent. "So I was thinking, right? Do you two keep a Hunter's journal?" Ellie asked them.

"Nope," Dean replied. Bobby looked at him with a small amount of disgust and then muttered something incoherent and clearly unflattering.

"Do you think I could?" she suggested. "It's clearly an important part of the lifestyle."

"Someone's got to," Bobby said. "And apparently it's not these two."

"Yeah, you're in," Dean said. She smiled brightly.

"I'm like the Watson to your Holmes," she said with a smile. "Only there's two of you and one of me. And less of the bromance without the b. I think."


End file.
